Jack proposed to me nine months ago, and it was one of the happiest moments of my life. We had been together since school, growing up side by side and dreaming of our future. His proposal was the culmination of years of shared experiences, and I was over the moon. We immediately started a wedding fund, each contributing a grand every month. I was cutting back like crazy—no restaurants, no trips, barely any new clothes—just to save up for our big day.

A couple of days ago, while tidying up, I had a sudden urge to check our safe. I thought it would be a little morale boost to see how much we had saved. I expected to find the culmination of our sacrifices and dreams. But as I opened the safe, my heart stopped—there was nothing. The safe was totally empty.

Panic set in, and a million thoughts raced through my mind. Had we been robbed? But there were no signs of a break-in. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I sat down, trying to calm myself, but the anxiety was too overwhelming. I needed answers, and I needed them now.

When Jack got home from the store, I was right there waiting. He barely had time to put down the groceries before I confronted him. “Jack, where’s the money from the safe?” I demanded, my voice trembling with a mix of fear and anger.

He looked at me, and for a moment, his expression was unreadable. Then, to my utter disbelief, a smirk formed on his face. “Oh, that? I used it,” he said, with a nonchalance that made my blood boil.

“What do you mean you used it?” I could barely get the words out. “For what?”

His arrogance was infuriating. “I invested it,” he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

I felt dizzy, the room spinning as his words sank in. “Invested it? In what?”

Jack’s eyes gleamed with a sort of twisted pride. “Cryptocurrency,” he replied. “I put it all into this new coin that’s going to explode any day now. We’ll make back ten times what we saved.”

I fainted. Literally. The shock and disbelief were too much for my body to handle, and I collapsed right there in our living room. When I came to, Jack was kneeling beside me, looking worried for the first time since he walked in.

“Are you okay?” he asked, but I could barely hear him through the roaring in my ears.

I pushed him away, struggling to sit up. “You did what?” I whispered, my voice hoarse. “How could you gamble our wedding fund?”

Jack tried to explain, his voice pleading. “Anna, you don’t understand. This coin is going to make us rich! I did it for us, for our future.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “For us? You spent our wedding fund without even talking to me! How could you make such a huge decision on your own?”

He looked genuinely confused. “But it’s a sure thing,” he insisted. “I know it’s going to work out.”

I stood up, my legs shaky but my resolve firm. “You gambled our future on a hunch, Jack. How can I trust you now?”

Jack reached out to me, but I stepped back. “Anna, please, I did this for us.”

“No, Jack,” I said, my voice breaking. “You did this for you. You didn’t respect me enough to even ask my opinion. How can we build a life together without trust?”

I walked out of the room, leaving Jack standing there, a mix of desperation and regret on his face. The wedding fund was gone, and with it, the trust I had in him. As I sat alone in our bedroom, I realized that our dreams of a perfect wedding day had shattered. And I didn’t know if we could ever piece them back together.

The next few days were a blur of arguments and silence. Jack tried to convince me that his decision was for the best, but the damage was done. I couldn’t shake the feeling of betrayal. Our relationship had always been built on mutual respect and trust, and now it felt like a house of cards, teetering on the edge of collapse.

In the end, I had to make a decision. Did I want to spend my life with someone who could so easily disregard my feelings and make unilateral decisions about our future? The answer was clear, though it broke my heart.

I packed my bags and left, leaving behind the dreams of a wedding that would never happen. Jack’s gamble cost us more than just money; it cost us our future together. As I drove away, I couldn’t help but wonder if he ever truly understood what he had lost.